Chris Cooper's Blog, page 81
January 3, 2023
Annual Planning: The Intramural Open and Revenue Generation
Competitions at your gym can be great for retention and revenue generation—but only if you have a plan.
If you throw things together at the last minute, you won’t get the full return on your investment.
To help you improve length of engagement and add revenue in 2023, I’ve got an annual plan for you. It’s available in the Gym Owners United group on Facebook.
Here, I’ll tell you why you’ll find a series of competitions on my suggested calendar for gym owners.
Competition and Retention
Fact: Very few gym members will quit if they’re training for something.
Sure, the odd person will have a blow-up and walk at a weird time. But retention patterns are predictable, and gym owners who analyze their client journeys will see clear drop-off points. That’s why we recommend doing goal reviews with clients around the 90-day mark, for example.
We also know that a competition gives people a goal and a purpose. For example, at my gym, Catalyst, we know August is a tough time for retention. In my area, people often vanish to the lake in late summer and forget about the gym. So the September Catalyst Games give them a reason to stay on track in summer. If they’re training with a purpose, they’ll be much less likely to cancel or hold memberships.
Bonus: These competitions give me a chance to put participants on podiums and celebrate them. We’ll call out their PRs from the mountaintops, make them feel like superstars and generate tons of good feelings. All that helps retention, too.
I recommend gym owners use competitions strategically throughout the year, and Two-Brain’s signature event is the Intramural Open—which can also generate revenue for the gym.
The Intramural Open and Revenue
Short history: More than a decade ago, I created this event for my gym based on intramurals at my high school. In the Intramural Open, you divide your gym into teams and compete for several weeks. Clients work out, score points for their teams, make new connections to other members and have lots of fun. This event can be run independently or connected to the CrossFit Games Open.
The best part: If you run the event properly, you’ll have a host of ways to increase revenue. For example:
You can run group competition prep programs.You can sell personal training sessions to help people get ready to compete.You can run specialty programs (gymnastics, weightlifting, etc.) or competition nutrition seminars.You can sell Intramural Open-themed retail items.You can charge a registration fee (I highly recommend this).You can run “kids heats” to connect with young ones whose parents might want to sign them up for programs at the gym.You can run post-competition goal reviews and upgrade prescriptions to help members make swift progress.
You can see how all that would add up to more revenue. But if you don’t have a plan, you’ll miss out on all of it.
I’ve got you covered: On Jan. 9, I’ll give you a complete guide to the Intramural Open. It’s plug and play. I’ll tell you exactly how to set up and run the competition, as well as how to generate revenue and put your clients on podiums. I’ll also tell you how to keep it low drag and reduce the stress of running a multi-week event.
The point here: Make a plan to improve retention and generate revenue in 2023.
My recommended plan—with a printable calendar—is available here: Gym Owners United.
The post Annual Planning: The Intramural Open and Revenue Generation appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
January 2, 2023
The Biggest Threat to Microgyms (and How to Deal With It)
Chris Cooper (00:02):
This sounds obvious, but most people don’t do it: You need to measure your client’s goals. They might not actually be getting anywhere. I’m Chris Cooper. I’m the founder of Two-Brain Business, and today I want to talk about goal reviews and why you need to do them if you run a coaching business. If this is helpful to you, just hit subscribe on this channel or join gymownersunited.com if you’d like to chat about it. It’s a free public Facebook group that we operate with moderators, and we are in there every day to talk about things like goal reviews and how to do them. So the biggest threat to microgyms and CrossFit affiliates isn’t their inability to get new clients. It’s the inability to keep the clients that they have. It’s not marketing. It’s churn. The industry average retention for a microgym is 7.8 months.
Chris Cooper (00:51):
That’s not long enough. 7.8 months is not long enough to change a client’s life. When a client is coming in and entrusting you with helping them lose weight, improve all their health markers, feel better, get more energy, be more happy, and they are leaving after eight months, it’s not because they said “mission accomplished.” It’s because you’re not delivering what they thought they were buying. They’re not getting results, in other words. So today I wanna tell you why goal reviews are so important, what the data says about doing goal reviews, and exactly how to do them. A goal review is part of what we call the “prescriptive model” at Two-Brain Business. So you start with a consultative process: “What are your goals?” Then you make a prescription: “Here is how my service can get you to those goals.” And then the goal review is your follow-up: “Your first goal review happens after your on-ramp program.”
Chris Cooper (01:42):
When you meet a client, you say, “Are you perfectly happy with your progress?” You celebrate their wins, you might ask for a referral, and you make their first exercise and nutrition prescription from there. So your prescription is now based on the client knowing the basics and moving pretty well. Thanks to your on-ramp program, you’ve seen what they’re capable of, you’ve seen what their limitations are, and you, as a highly qualified, educated, and skilled coach, can now say, “I think you should exercise three times per week or four times per week,” or, “You should follow this nutrition program to meet your goals.” Remember, you’ve already asked about their goals—because you didn’t just do a free trial where you threw them into your spin class, jiu-jitsu program or CrossFit group. You talked to them about what they actually want to achieve because you’re a caring and empathetic and professional coach.
Chris Cooper (02:33):
So at this first goal review, you say, “Okay, based on your goals, your best prescription is to do this much exercise and this type of nutrition.” Then you say to the client, “Would you feel most comfortable doing this exercise in a group setting or one-on-one with me?” Then you might ask the client, “Would you feel most comfortable following a nutrition plan on your own or having periodic check-ins daily or weekly?”—whatever you wanna offer for that client or what they prefer. You can say, “Here is what I recommend for you,” and that’s the first time you ever open up your pricing binder and say, “Here is what you should buy.” Because this is the first time when you’re actually qualified to say, “Here’s what I recommend.” Okay, you’ve been through on-ramp, and you’ve made your recommendations three months down the track. You have to actually check to make sure that your recommendations are correct.
Chris Cooper (03:31):
Now look, nobody expects you to be bang on with your recommendations right from the get-go. If that were the case, then you would just be selling programs because you know the answer all the time. But your value as a coach is not just in prescription. It’s also in auditing. “Did that work?” Think about any health-care professional. They’re going to make a prescription, and then they’re going to make an appointment with you to follow up and make sure that it’s working. So, for example, your doctor says, “Hmm, I think we should try Lipitor. Let’s do a three-month program on Lipitor, and then we’re gonna get back together. We’re gonna check your blood-lipid profile again, and we’re gonna see if it’s working.” Right? Because that’s what professionals do. Nobody says, “Oh, my doctor got it wrong. I’m finding a new doctor.”
Chris Cooper (04:18):
Instead, they’re more invested in the doctor after the second visit because now they know what doesn’t work. And the doctor could say, “Okay, Lipitor didn’t really work. Let’s try something else.” They have invested with that doctor already. They have sunk costs in that relationship. And so over time, as your prescription gets better and better through this process of prescription and audit, you actually become more valuable to the client because they don’t have to start over with somebody else. And so your goal review is really a measurement of the thing that they care about. First, if the client came in and said, “My primary goal is to lose weight,” then you measure their weight at intake and you measure it at your first goal review three months later. Then you say, “Congratulations! You have made all this progress. I’m so happy for you. There are so many other people who would love to do what you’ve done.”
Chris Cooper (05:11):
And you pull out your camera and you say, “Can you give them some advice? What advice would you give to the person you were three months ago?” Just turn on the camera and let them talk. You can publish that media. You can brag them up. You’ll be doing them the greatest favor of their lives because nobody else is concerned about making them famous. That’s just you. Brag ’em up and put the spotlight on them. So, after that, then you pivot to “are you completely satisfied with these results?” And if the client says, “Yes, I am,” then you say, “Amazing. Let’s keep going on this path for three months. But no prescription will last forever. And so in three months I want to get together again and audit your progress. And if we have to do something a little different, then than we will. But for now, things are amazing. Congratulations! High five!”
Chris Cooper (05:58):
And you send them back to what they’ve been doing. What you’ve basically done here is sold them on another three-month contract without making them sign a contract. If the client says, “No, I’m not perfectly happy,” you’ve got a chance to save that relationship. If you’re not doing goal reviews and the client is thinking “I’m not perfectly happy,” what will they do? Well, they’ll leave. They’ll try and find something else that will make them perfectly happy. But if you’re doing a goal review, you’re in front of the problem and you’re part of the solution. And so now you can say, “Great. Let’s look at this. So you’re making some progress, but you’d like to make progress faster. Is that right?” If the client says “yes,” you say, “Great. If I were in your shoes and I wanted to speed up my progress, here’s exactly what I would do.”
Chris Cooper (06:43):
And you make another coaching prescription based on the faster path. That might mean a nutrition program. It might mean more classes. It might mean adding some personal training or work in a specialty group. Your purpose at the goal review is not “I’m gonna upsell everybody,” but let’s face it, that happens a lot because clients say, “I’m happy with my progress, but I wanna go faster. What do I do?” And so around 30% of the time, your clients will upgrade to a membership that’s about 30% more expensive. That means that when you go through goal reviews with your gym, you can see a 9% increase in revenue simply by giving people what they want. It’s not a sales pitch. You don’t have to feel bad about this. It’s professional coaching. And so after you’ve made that prescription, you say, “Okay, now the rate to follow this faster path is X.”
Chris Cooper (07:39):
And if the client says, “I can’t afford it,” then you say, “Okay, well, we’re making progress the way we are. Why don’t we stick with what we’re doing?” And they say, “Okay, yeah, let’s do another three months.” Boom—you’ve kept that client instead of having them guessing and going to try Pilates down the street. The last valuable piece of goal review is as an audit to yourself. If you’ve got a succession of clients and they’re not making progress, that is when you audit your programming. If you find that a lot of people in their goal reviews say, “You know what? I’m really not losing weight,” then you need to tweak your programming. Doing good programming is not just a matter of finding the spiciest workouts out there. It’s not just a matter of getting a master’s degree or a PhD. It’s a matter of auditing.
Chris Cooper (08:25):
The reality is that you don’t need fancier programming. You don’t need more complicated programming. You might not even need harder programming. You might switch to heart-rate-based programming or you might not. You don’t need to copy Games programming or anybody else. All you have to do is check to see “is my programming working?” And if it is, double down. If it’s not, change it. And that’s where the goal-review process comes in. Frankly, coaches who aren’t reviewing their client’s progress are really doing them a disservice because they’re not changing what the client gets, how it’s delivered or the programming. They’re just kind of like hoping that things automatically change for their client over time. Or, even worse, they’re telling their clients to go harder in their diet or their exercise. That’s usually not the solution. And so that’s why we like doing goal reviews. We like to do goal reviews quarterly if possible.
Chris Cooper (09:18):
If you can only do them twice a year, that’s fine. But just start with new clients coming in. Tell them “we’ve got your first goal review planned for the 90-day mark,” or whatever it is. We give clients in Two-Brain, a sample client journey that just helps them map all these things out in advance. They don’t have to make it up. They don’t have to guess. They could even copy our automated texts and emails and send those to their clients. But they know exactly what to do to keep the client around long term. So last piece: doing goal reviews and a consultative on-ramp process and on-ramp doubles the lifespan of every client at your gym. It brings them close to two years, at which point you know you’ve changed their life. It also increases client value from under a hundred dollars a month to $185 per month, which is like the Two-Brain average. And, most importantly, make sure that the client is changing their life. Look, if you’ve been doing this for a long time, you’ve probably got clients in your gym who made amazing initial progress, and that progress is kind of tapered off now. What you need to do is have a conversation with them and make a new prescription instead of just waiting for them to quit.
Announcer (10:28):
Thanks for listening to “Run a Profitable Gym.” Please subscribe for more episodes. Now here’s a final message from Chris.
Chris Cooper (10:35):
We created the Gym Owners United Facebook group in 2020 to help entrepreneurs just like you. Now, it has more than 5,600 members, and it’s growing daily as gym owners join us for tips, tactics and community support. If you aren’t in that group, what are you waiting for? Get in there today so we can network and grow your business. That’s Gym Owners United on Facebook or gymownersunited.com. Join today.
The post The Biggest Threat to Microgyms (and How to Deal With It) appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
Annual Planning: A Step Toward Becoming CEO of Your Gym
I know how it feels to run out of hours.
I’ve driven to the gym in the dark, coached 10 classes, responded to email, answered the phone, sold a few T-shirts between sessions, ordered supplies, fixed broken equipment, cleaned and then driven home in the dark.
The worst part? I wasn’t getting any further ahead. All my grinding wasn’t in vain, but it certainly wasn’t growing my business. I was just surviving—barely.
To get out of a cycle like that, you need a plan.
But when you’re chest deep in the muck, it’s hard to create one.
I can help.
Your 2023 Annual Plan
Head over to the Gym Owners United group on Facebook and check out my Dec. 28 post. Leave a comment on it and I’ll send you a basic but very effective annual plan you can print out and follow throughout 2023.
I’ve got one or two activities you can do every month to generate revenue, retain members and get more from your staff. I’ll even tell you why I’ve selected the stuff you see on the calendar.
Here’s an example for February: Run a bring-a-friend event. Why? An event like this will help you connect with very warm leads who are already linked to your business through a current member. Think of it as a referral program on rocket fuel. Your clients all have friends and family members who know they work out, and this event is the perfect way to meet those people. Use this event to build your email list and book free consultations.
You’ll find “bring-a-friend event” on the calendar four times. It’s that important.
But if you’re struggling to manage everything right now, you probably won’t think about running a simple event like this until you badly need more members—and then it’s too late. Get out front of everything now to ensure a steady stream of hot leads throughout the year.
You might think, “I don’t have time for that.” I know you’re busy, but you can definitely find about 90 minutes sometime in the next two months to plan a simple workout, seminar or even social gathering. You don’t have to overthink it. Just block off the time now and give your members a reason to bring a buddy to the gym.
My annual calendar for gym owners won’t solve all your problems right away, but it’s a big step forward for a fitness entrepreneur to start thinking months ahead instead of day to day.
And that’s what I want you to be: a business owner. A CEO, not a cleaner-programmer-coach-bookkeeper-manager.
Get my plan and take action to improve your business in 2023: Gym Owners United.
The post Annual Planning: A Step Toward Becoming CEO of Your Gym appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
December 30, 2022
3 Tactics for Keeping “January Joiners” in Your Gym
January is a holy month in the fitness industry.
If you run a gym, you know what I mean: The turning of the calendar prompts people to head to gyms in hopes of improving their health and fitness.
But gym owners also know that people who join in January aren’t always around in February or March. Here’s how to change that.
First, some data. In our “State of the Industry” report, it’s clear that fewer people join gyms in December, and more people join in January.
You’re definitely going to get more opportunities to acquire clients in January, and you’ll likely add to your membership total even if your sales and intake systems aren’t ideal.
But how long will you hold onto those new members?
Here’s a 2020 stat from the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA): The majority of gyms bleed off half their new clients within 6 months. Our “State of the Industry” data reveals gyms only hold onto clients for an average of 7.8 months.
Gym owners with boots on the ground know that retention numbers are always dragged down by new clients who vanish within two or three months. IHRSA’s data, from 2019: 14 percent of January joiners are gone at the end of February.
So it’s clear that lots of people join gyms in January but don’t stick around long enough to actually improve their lives.
Here are three things you can do to change that:
1. Stop doing free trials and start doing free consultations using the prescriptive model. Short summary: Ask prospective members what they want to accomplish, then prescribe the services that will help them do it.
2. Install a detailed on-ramp process that prepares clients for success and generates retention measured in years. Here’s a video on on-ramps:
3. Do a Goal Review Session with each new client within 90 days of sign-up. Schedule this meeting right when clients join, not after they’ve been around for a while. Let them know at intake that this meeting is part of the service package. Use the session to celebrate successes, solve problems and update prescriptions. Here’s your reference for A+ goal reviews.
Two-Brain gyms follow a much more detailed version of this exact plan, and they use other tactics to drive length of engagement up further. As a result, Two-Brain gyms’ average retention is 18.8 months—more than double the average for the industry as a whole.
Use Our Data or Acquire Your Own
Our data is clear: If you do these three things, your retention will improve. We’ve crunched all the numbers from thousands of gyms so you don’t have to guess.
But maybe you’re unconvinced and not ready to change your current intake process. If so, try this: Run your own simple test with a small group of clients in January. Do a free consultation and use a streamlined on-ramp to get them up to speed. Then meet with them before the 90-day mark to review their goals and adjust their plans. Track retention for this group against the numbers for those who come into your gym a different way. Then make decisions based on your data.
This is a valid path, but I already know what you’ll discover: Free consultations, on-ramps and goal reviews measurably improve retention.
Act on your own data in three months or act on ours now. The only thing you can’t do: Take no action. If you follow that path, your January Joiners will likely become the February Forgotten.
For more info on how a mentor can help you improve your gym at high speed, book a free call here.
The post 3 Tactics for Keeping “January Joiners” in Your Gym appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
December 29, 2022
Revenue Rocket Ship: When You Work on a Gym, Not in It
Mike Warkentin (00:02):
Two-Brain’s revenue leaderboard for November 22 is out, and the numbers are crazy. The top 10 runs from $46,000 all the way up to 73 grand. Can you imagine if your gym grossed 73 grand? The big question: how do these gyms generate so much revenue? The answer is coming up in this edition of “Run a Profitable Gym.” I’m your host, Mike Warkentin. My mission every week is to connect you to the top gym owners in the world so you can find out their secrets and have the exact same success. Every week, real insight from real gym owners. No secrets. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a tip. With me today is Ashley Sell of Midwest Strength and Performance. She’s right near Chicago. She’s got two gyms. One of them earned a spot on our top 10 leaderboard for revenue in November. Before the show, she showed me a graph of her gym’s growth in revenue. At 2020, it looks like a rocket ship is taking off. The thing goes almost straight up, and it keeps going all the way into 2022, with 2023 on the horizon. Ashley is here today to tell us how she did it. Welcome to the show, Ashley.
Ashley Sell (01:02):
Hi, Mike. I am so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. I’m really excited to talk about this milestone and share with the Two-Brain community how much mentorship has meant to us and what it’s done.
Mike Warkentin (01:13):
Well, I really appreciate it because back in the day, if I had looked at your graph, I would’ve just been head in hands: “I don’t know how to do this.” And I would’ve loved to find you and ask you questions. So now I get the privilege of as asking you those questions, and you get the honor of telling other gym owners how you did it so they can do the same thing. So I’m gonna get right into it so people don’t have to hit the fast-forward button on us. Gimme the one-minute summary of your business model. So what are you selling? Who’s your perfect client? Put this in perspective for us. What is your business?
Ashley Sell (01:41):
Yep. So we have a few different major revenue streams. Our highest grossing revenue stream is our private training. We also have group fitness, and that took us a little bit to figure out. And actually Two-Brain was really helpful with that because for most gyms in Two-Brain, that’s like kind of the bread and butter. And then we also do group training, so that’s more of a semi-private feel, mostly with athletes.
Mike Warkentin (02:03):
So private training is one on one?
Ashley Sell (02:05):
Yes, exactly.
Mike Warkentin (02:07):
Perfect. so athletes are a big deal for you. Is that your actual avatar, like athletes—and are we talking high school, college, professional or what else are you focusing on?
Ashley Sell (02:16):
So it’s almost a misnomer, Mike. Our name is Midwest Strength and Performance. And so people initially think that our avatar is actually athletes. We do have a lot of athletes, and it’s actually more so at our other location, but it really is about strength for general-population adults. And so I would say our avatar is actually between like 30 and 50, and it’s working professionals primarily. And that’s really the avatar of who comes to our gym. It’s people that are looking to get stronger looking to get in shape. And then we do specialize in athletics as well. So we do train a UFC fighter. We train D1 football players, but they really are a minority.
Mike Warkentin (03:03):
Okay. I know that avatar. That’s the exact kind of thing that my wife wants to serve. It’s that 30 to 50 year old. She specializes in women. She has some men, but she wants people who wanna get stronger and generally fit. So we’re on kind of the same page there. So that’s the one-minute summary. You’ve got a big emphasis on personal stuff. You’ve got some smaller groups, you’ve got larger groups. That’s very similar to what a lot of the gym owners in the microgym community are doing, but you’re having greater success. So I referenced the graph, the revenue graph, earlier and when I look at 2017 to 2020, things are increasing, but the rate isn’t dramatic. It looks like the rate of growth is starting to slow down in as you approach 2020, but then all of a sudden 2020 explodes, and 2021, same thing. It looks incredible. So the big question: in 2020, what happened to change that trajectory?
Ashley Sell (03:52):
Yeah, several things. So the first few years were really hard for the business. I actually was not part of the business at the time. And that’s one key thing, Mike, that I wanna share. Like, we are not the normal Two-Brain gym in the sense that like, there’s one owner and staff. We actually have six owners across the two locations. And our team is large. So we actually have, I think we have a total of 16 people right now including our owners. So there’s, you know, 12 staff as well, coaches. And so that’s a huge thing to note. This gym started with these five guys that wanted to risk it all and started gym together. And they really were the best coaches in the area. And so they started doing what they love and started really kind of pursuing their passions. But like most gym owners, they realized pretty quickly that they didn’t really wanna run a gym. And so at that point, like I was asked by my husband, who’s one of the other owners, to come in and take a look at the business and see if I could help. And it was a perfect match.
Mike Warkentin (05:01):
What were you doing at the time?
Ashley Sell (05:02):
So I was actually a legal technology sales consultant. So I was I was selling software to law firms, and I split my time in New York and Boston. So I was a political science major in college, pre-law. Loved attorneys, loved working with attorneys. I’m that person. And I really loved it. But there were some changes. And I was looking for something new, and it was just a perfect fit. I was able to use my skill set and come in. So the first thing we did when I came on board, we tracked our members—where were they coming from? And we realized that 98% of our membership base was actually coming from Wheaton, which is where we are now. We opened up about 15 minutes west down the road. And so that was a quick, “Whoa, all of our people are commuting. That’s a problem.” And so we actually relocated in January of 2021 to Wheaton. And that was the first really, really big thing, because now our community could actually refer their friends. And that affinity marketing was now something that we could plug and play. And then we also did a couple of other things. You know, that was when I officially started. Like I started helping mid-2020, and then in 2021 I was officially part of the business. And that was the first time that the gym had had a dedicated owner to business growth, which was crazy.
Mike Warkentin (06:39):
That’s a big one right there. People who are listening, someone must be dedicated to growing the business. If you don’t have that, you need that. And it can be you, but if you don’t have that person, someone needs to fill that chair. So tell us what you did.
Ashley Sell (06:53):
Yeah. I have since become a coach. I am a certified personal trainer and have lots of things, but for the first year, I was solely focused on how I could grow the business and make it successful for these guys. Because, I mean, like our first year was $86,000 across five people. Like that’s like not surviving.
Mike Warkentin (07:17):
The first year? Like gross revenue?
Ashley Sell (07:19):
Right. And so I came in and was like, “Okay, how do I, like we need to like triple this, right?” And so you can see every year got better, but then in 2020, like when I was able to come on and start thinking about systemizing the gym in an ideal market, things really took off. I also at the same time found Two-Brain, and I had actually interviewed a lot of mentoring companies as part of my onboarding just to start understanding the industry because it was a change for me. So for about a year I just consumed Two-Brain’s content. We did lots of really important things like moving to subscription personal training. We focused on “how do we fix these classes where our average attendance is four and fill those spots?” We started doing things like marketing, advertising, focusing on the customer journey, right? Those just weren’t things that we had ever done. And then earlier this year we actually got a mentor. And I gotta tell you, it was one of the best things we did. And I’m not just saying that. Chris Plentus—shout out to our mentor. He is the best. There is something really valuable about being able to engage regularly with someone that understands your business, like really understands your business and can give you that third-party insight, right? They’re not in the situation. They’re just slightly removed. And like, I have a big team, right? So like talking with my five other owners is really helpful, but being outside of the middle is so critical. And so I really recommend it. He has been able to see things that we don’t see, and he has been able to guide us. And so, I mean, like, I love you guys.
Mike Warkentin (09:13):
And we love we love sharing your story with other people because there are people out there that are struggling, and they’re stuck in that spot where you were and where I was in that pre-2020 range where it’s like “we have too many mouths to feed and not enough revenue.” And listeners, I’m gonna point out a couple of things here that I’ll pull out of what Ashley just said. She’s got a bit of a sales background, which is definitely a helpful thing, right? Like Ashley, you have sold some stuff to some lawyers and accountants, correct? So selling is a thing, and that is not a skill that most people are born with. It is a learned and acquired and practice skill. If you’re bad at selling and don’t know how to do it, you can learn. And it is important. Cause if nobody in your business is selling, the business will not grow. Next thing that was really important that she said: she came on with a mandate specifically to grow the business. So I imagine, Ashley, that I followed a similar path to your husband and his partners. I liked fitness, so I opened a gym, and I liked coaching, and I thought I was a decent coach, and I thought the business would grow. It didn’t. So having someone dedicated to actually working on growing the business, not just delivering the service, that’s a big deal. Ashley was then talking about things like moving to an ideal location, right? That’s a big one. If your gym is in the worst part of town and no one comes there and no one wants to come there, and it’s a 35-minute commute, that might have worked like 10 years ago, when you were selling a really specific thing that people couldn’t find anywhere. It doesn’t necessarily work right now. You need to be where the clients are. And then you’ve got situations where you’re looking at “what are my offerings? What am I selling my clients. How am I selling it? How am I connecting with people?” All of it comes back to dedicating time to grow the business. And the big one that every single gym owner says on this show: systems, putting systems in place. Because if you don’t have those, you have a hobby, not a business. So I wanna dig into a couple of those things. Ashley, if you don’t mind. Tell me about a couple of the systems that are the absolute backbone of your revenue in the gym. Like what is holding this thing together?
Ashley Sell (11:06):
So I would say the first thing is the mutual accountability. It felt really hard for a lot of our coaches to even move to a subscription model. I had to do a lot of convincing over a long period of time to do that because it felt weird to them. They had always sold like these packages. But here’s the thing: when we have to have a mutual respect of time, and if those packages are going into six months or people are coming back two years later asking you to honor them, that’s a problem for us. And we find that we have better clients and better adherence to health plans when people are on a monthly rhythm, right? So we are month to month. We charge month to month, and they use it or lose it. Now, of course we make exceptions if people get sick and things like that, but the accountability is way higher. And so some people don’t like that, and we lose clients sometimes because of that, but those aren’t our avatar, right?
Mike Warkentin (12:04):
So I’m just gonna tell people what this model is: subscriptions. So instead of selling PT packages, you know, a 10 pack or whatever it is, and waiting for the clients to use them on their pace or whatever—and it always happens: they don’t use ’em, then they use a bunch, or they try and hold on to the last punch because they don’t wanna rebuy. And then you have to resell every time, right? So that means I have to sell to the same person over and over and over again. It doesn’t encourage retention. It doesn’t encourage progress because the clients are like, “Oh, I, I took four weeks off, and I’m gonna keep my punch card going.” None of that works. The subscription model is just like a subscription for any other service, like your music service or whatever it is that you do. Monthly fee comes with this amount of training. You use it or you lose it, and the classes don’t roll over, but the subscription does. Meaning you don’t have to resell that thing every month. It’s a rollover service where you’re just gonna keep getting billed monthly and we are gonna keep taking you towards your goals. You do not have to resell it every month. All you have to do is make sure that person is super happy and seeing progress, and it keeps going. So when you did that, what happened to revenue? Did you see dramatic movement in revenue right away or in retention? Like what changed in your numbers and metrics?
Ashley Sell (13:19):
Immediately, immediately. And here’s the important thing is it was recurring revenue. Like you can increase revenue one month by doing lots of really cool like merch drops and things. And if you’re trying to hit a specific goal, that’s really helpful. But this is recurring revenue, and that means something way different, right? If you add $10,000 of recurring revenue, I mean, that’s crazy. That’ll, you know, you gotta do something wrong to mess that up. Now what I will say is that you cannot do something like this unless you are also dedicated to the quality of the product. Because it’s not that you can just step back. We view it as we have to win their business every month even though it auto renews. You still have to make sure that they are making progress, as you said, and that they’re very happy. Because these are not inexpensive packages. These are hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars every month. And so they’re high value, and they require a very white-glove product. And so that’s also really important as well.
Mike Warkentin (14:19):
So who then in your business is in charge of ensuring that there is a white-glove product and that these people stay around? Like do you have a retention person or do you have a coach-development person? Like what is that staff structure?
Ashley Sell (14:35):
That is such a good question. So that is something that the ownership team takes responsibility for. So to your point, I’m usually behind a desk for the most of my hours, right? And the guys are on the floor, right? And they’re coaching their clients, and many of them are professional coaches, and they do that all day. And they do also contribute to business growth, but they’re the ones that are in the action. So they’re on the floor, and they can see what the product is. And here’s the thing, having five owners means that everybody is that much more invested in the product. So of course their private training’s gonna be fantastic. I mean, they’re incredible. They’re incredible coaches. And then they can also see our staff on the floor, right? And so they have a very in-tune idea of the quality that is being delivered by our other coaches. And they’re able to really be the professional development there. And, Mike, that’s one thing I would love to talk about as well, because we sat at a number for many months that didn’t get us on the revenue board. And we were very happy, but we made some changes in the last four months that I think were actually the pieces that made us for the first time he hit the leaderboard. And I’d love to chat about those, too.
Mike Warkentin (15:56):
Tell me who the retention person is or how you retain these clients. Then I wanna go right onto that stuff and talk about the last four months. But I wanna know, first of all, if you’ve got this subscription service and it’s high value, who’s making sure that these people are happy?
Ashley Sell (16:08):
Yes. Okay. So the coaches for the private training, and then like a little bit less in tune is me, right? So I’ve been doing that. I did that for the last two years. We recently hired two CSMs, and they’re dedicated to happiness, right? Client happiness. They’re fantastic. We have full-blown job descriptions, responsibilities for them. So it’s very clear. One of the Two-Brain mentors just talked about having a very clear list of things to do for people. I totally agree. The last six months since we have really focused on making sure that it is super clear that they have these rhythms, right? These are “CSM rhythms.” It’s very clear. These are like, almost like monthly. They know what they should be doing on a regular basis. And it’s almost like it’s systemizing it. It’s systemizing it. And that also now is our built-in role to make sure that everybody’s happy. Not just class people, also private training people. And they’re also our fun like people, right? They run our events. We try and do one a month in Wheaton. And really, there is some profit, but it’s not a lot. It’s really about getting our membership together. So the 5-a.m. can see the 5 p.m. right? And developing community.
Mike Warkentin (17:31):
Did you see a measurable return on investment when you hired these client success managers?
Ashley Sell (17:37):
Absolutely. And it also I think more importantly allowed me to go up the value ladder. As this business has grown, we have had to shift our focus into EHR, right? Because I have a very high, like, that sounds obnoxious. I am willing and I enjoy and I love this business. So if you’re a gym owner, you love your business and you’re willing to do everything that it takes. But I realized maybe about six months ago that I needed to hire some more people to help me because I couldn’t consistently work 80-hour weeks. And I loved it, but I also realized that I needed to make sure for the longevity of my business that I did not burn out. That my team didn’t burn out. And so that was really critical. So the ROI was there absolutely, but it’s going to show up and has started showing up in our EHR and also happiness.
Mike Warkentin (18:37):
So two key concepts there, listeners. EHR—effective hourly rate. That is the amount of money that you take in divided by the amount of time you spend to make it. So if you make a hundred dollars and you make that in 50 hours, you have a $2 rate. But if you make a hundred dollars in one hour, you have a hundred-dollar rate. And some gym owners don’t wanna do the math, but I encourage you to do it. My EHR was I think zero for a very long time. Cause I didn’t pay myself. Don’t do that. But if you are working a huge amount of hours, it’s unsustainable. You can start hiring to increase your EHR, your effective hourly rate. Ashley said “climbing the value ladder.” That is a system that Two-Brain has in place to help you analyze exactly the tasks and roles in your gym that you can offload first to free up the most amount of your time. And then you use that free time to generate more income that will then pay for that role. An example: hire a cleaner for 12, 15 bucks an hour, whatever it is. Take those four hours that you would’ve spent mopping the floors. And all you have to do there is make $60 and you’ve covered the cost of the cleaner. And because you’re great at your job, you are going to make more than $60. That is how you grow business. So you climb that value ladder. So those are key concepts, and they’re not random. There is an actual plan step by step to help you analyze it and do it properly. Because it’s not just magic like “I hire and I grow.” It’s, “I hire. I then dedicate myself to specific growth activities.” So talk to me about those the last four months. What are the big deals that got you on this leaderboard? Because again, I’ve seen the chart, and it’s crazy. What did you do?
Ashley Sell (20:08):
We refocused in on professional development and also EHR for our owners. So as I mentioned, like these guys, they love coaching, but also I want to help them find freedom in their coaching, right? There’s something different when all of your revenue personally, like the money that you bring home to your family, comes from coaching. There is something really wonderful when it doesn’t do that, and when you can coach because you love it. You see, it’s like a lot of them have like golden handcuffs to some extent where they love coaching, but they have to do it. And so our very intense focus the last six months, from my perspective and from our team’s perspective, is “let’s hire some staff. Let’s get them really good. We know we have really good leaders here. Let’s hire coaches. Let’s make them really good and spend a lot of time investing in their professional development and then help them become fantastic class coaches, fantastic at private training.” We hit a point over the summer. We could not take on any more clients, like just from hours in the day. Like nobody was willing to work another hour. And that was a very clear moment where we said, “Okay, well for business growth, right? If we want that, what’s next?” And so that for us was “let’s find really good coaches and let’s make them better.” And so that’s something that we’ve been doing. And that is what we’re working on now. And I am seeing shifts. In the last two months, our coaches are now building careers.
Mike Warkentin (21:47):
So this is a big deal. So you reach capacity, everyone’s working too much now, and you’re starting to hire some people. And when you hire, how are you doing that? So the question, the big question here, is “how are these coaches making careers?” Because it’s very tough—I’ve been there—to try and like make a full-time coaching career, making $20 an hour coaching classes. Are you using any specific models or systems to pay these coaches in a way that helps ’em make an actual career?
Ashley Sell (22:12):
Yeah. I’ll tell you this, it’s not going to be just classes. It can’t be. And Two-Brain is very clear about that. And I love the way that they talk about the ideal day. We have the career roadmap meetings every 90 days religiously because we have to be in tune with our coaches—and especially when we’re focusing on professional development, right? And classes are fantastic. It is a great skill set, and the product there is really important. But for them to build what they need to if coaching is their passion, they have to include private training. And Two-Brain has talked about this on the gym level and the owner level, but for us, the next step is we’re doing that already as our ownership, right? We’ve now gotten that, but now we need to be able to do that for our coaches. And when a coach can come in and say, “I can have this amount of money from classes, but this amount of money from private training” that builds them freedom. And the Two-Brain model ensures that we pay them above market value, which we love. I’ve had actually coaches tell me that the Two-Brain model that we use actually is the best pay they’ve ever seen in the industry. And that’s from a coach that’s been, you know, working for 10 years in training. And that’s good to hear. And so that’s so gratifying as an owner to say, “Wait, I can really have an impact on these people’s careers and lives and families.” And that’s really exciting.
Mike Warkentin (23:42):
And are you using the standard Two-Brain 4/9ths Model to pay these coaches?
Ashley Sell:
Yeah.
Mike Warkentin:
So listeners, I’m not gonna grind this into the dirt here, but the idea is four-ninths of program revenue goes to the coach. That’s 44%. And then you’ve got profit allocated from the other section and also operational costs. So the gym takes a cut, but the largest share—44% because 33% is profit, 22% is for operating—44% goes to the coach. And what this does is allows coaches to make a very large hourly wage. For example, if you’re coaching a class for $20 an hour, that’s your cap. Can’t do much to that. However, if you create, generate and fill a program, let’s say a weightlifting specialty class or something like that, and you sell 10 of them, 10 spots at a thousand dollars each, you’ve got $10,000, and 44% of that’s 4,400 bucks. You can make a very high effective hourly rate. And this is how careers happen because you can’t coach 15 hours a day. Chris Cooper tried it, and it almost killed him. He created Two-Brain Business to help people avoid that path. So by paying coaches properly, you create careers and you incentivize them to grow those programs. So have you seen these coaches come in and say “I wanna generate a program, make more money.” Is that happening in your business?
Ashley Sell (24:57):
Oh yeah. And it actually, to be honest, we have not had success yet with the programs. I’m inspired by what you just said. That is a great way to do it, and I’m gonna be thinking about that and doing that next. But they, they come in, and that’s exactly right. They’re like, they want careers. They don’t know how to do it. And so we help guide them: “okay, this is how our owners have done it. Let’s help you do that.” We, as I mentioned, like our owners can’t take another client. So we’re able to actually give all of our leads, almost exclusively all of our leads, to these new coaches and really help them grow and succeed. So one of our coaches went to a full-time book of business in 90 days. I mean, it was wild from not having any clients when we first hired him. We’ve seen that with one other coach as well. And that took a little bit longer—it was I wanna say like four months. And we now have two other coaches that we’re focusing on to do that as well. But we’re running outta space now, but it’s working.
Mike Warkentin (26:00):
Put in a rooftop patio workout area. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. So you’re the first owner of a high-revenue gym who’s specifically mentioned career roadmaps. What is that and how does it help you generate revenue?
Ashley Sell (26:14):
I’m gonna rephrase that. How does it help us create happier coaches that are doing really awesome things in their jobs? So it allows me and the other more like HR head owner to be in tune and in sync with the things that our coaches care about, right? So not only are we caring about the customer journey of our members, but we are really, really caring, especially as we invest in professional development, about the experience of our coaches. So we need to make sure that they’re happy because happy people make other people happier. And like our members, they’re more loyal to the business. They are more in tune with what the business is doing. And I think that that’s really important. And so we have these career roadmap meetings where, yes, they can offer feedback on what’s going on at the gym. It can be like super informal and say like, “How are things going? Where do you need support?” Right? And then we also go through a very like clear list of questions that talks about “okay, are you making the money that you wanna be making? If not, how do we do it?” And I love conversations that really get into the meat of what is needed, but more importantly I love that we have action steps and next steps that we’re actually doing. And so then we that’s really the structure of how we do it.
Mike Warkentin (27:45):
Listeners, have you ever asked your coaches “what does your career path look like? What do you wanna do? Are you making enough money? Are you happy?” Or have you just put your head down, mopped the floor, done the things, worked 80 hours and assumed that your coaches are all kind of happy coaching the class at $20 an hour? I did the latter. It was a mistake. Modern gym owners are now meeting with their coaches in documented 90-day career roadmap sessions and saying, “Are you happy? What can we do to make this the most sustainable career for you?” These happy, motivated coaches are invested in the business, they deliver better service, and they come up with some crazy-interesting opportunities for you to grow the business together. We have a guide called “Intrapreneurialism 101.” I’m gonna put a link in the show notes. You can get a guide that will tell you how to do this. And it’s a documented process again from Two-Brain that just explains how to fire coaches up to generate revenue and not create wage costs—generate revenue that then pays for the wages and kicks in profit to the business. There’s a lot of stuff that I want people to work on. So I’m gonna ask you one final question here: talk to me about the specific steps that Chris is giving you now. Because you are on this great path and your business is taking off and going through the roof. That’s a scary thing in itself, right? You wanna sustain the revenue and keep it going. How does Chris give you specific stuff from month to month to make that happen? Like, how is he focusing you?
Ashley Sell (29:19):
There’s always something to be fixed. And I think that is really it, right? It’s that I come to every meeting and I say, “Here are the things that are going on in our business.” We discuss them and then he actually guides me to what’s most important. And then sometimes there are things that weren’t on my list, which is the best because then I can see the impact that it’ll have. And that type of refocusing, that lens is really, really helpful. One thing that was surprising that I hadn’t focused on, we read “Traction” together. So there are a couple of us that are nominated to meet monthly, and then we are now reading it as an ownership team in our weekly meetings. And so the connectivity and the regular rhythms of our ownership team was something that I hadn’t focused on that Chris pointed out. And that has been dramatically improved—even like our culture as well. We’re now so in sync. I didn’t even know that that was a gap we had, and he was able to help. Like I don’t even think that it was like “you guys aren’t in sync.” It was “here’s some things that I think can help you.” And it was just awesome.
Mike Warkentin (30:30):
Yeah. And that’s important for you because you’re one of the first owners that I’ve spoken to as part of a larger ownership group. It’s more common for me to talk to sole proprietors or maybe like a husband-wife team or things like that, or pairs even. It’s less common to see a group of six. And if you think about the math here, a group of six, that’s six families—I guess it’s five if you and your husband are involved. But the point being if you have a group of owners, it’s more important to figure out who does what when so there’s no stepping on toes. Everything gets accomplished, everyone is happy, everyone gets fed. So if you’re part of a multiple-owner group and you’re struggling and saying, “Wow, there’s just not enough no here to feed everyone,” book a call with a mentor, and we can talk to you about how we can help. Ashley, thank you so much for sharing all this. It’s super exciting. Do you think that that graph is gonna keep doing what it’s doing?
Ashley Sell (31:21):
Mike? We got, we’ve got big plans for 2023. We might see a third location and even higher growth. So hire, mentor everybody. Hire a mentor!
Mike Warkentin (31:33):
Thank you so much. I wanna talk to you next year at this time and see where that chart went. Will you come back?
Ashley Sell (31:38):
Absolutely.
Mike Warkentin (31:40):
All right. That was Ashley sell. She’s one of the amazing gym owners on our November revenue leaderboard. We publish these leaderboards every single month, and then we tell you how people got on them. So follow our blog at twobrainbusiness.com. This is “Run a Profitable Gym.” The world’s best gym owners come on here and they tell you exactly what they’re doing so you can have the same success. No secrets. Just insight. Please subscribe for more episodes on your way out. And if you’re on YouTube, I’d love it if you hit the like button, too. Now here’s Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper with a final word.
Chris Cooper (32:06):
Hey, it’s Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper with a quick note. We created the Gym Owners United Facebook group to help you run a profitable gym. Thousands of gym owners just like you have already joined in the group. We share sound advice about the business of fitness every day. I answer questions, I run free webinars, and I give away all kinds of great resources to help you grow your gym. I’d love to have you in that group. It’s Gym Owners United on Facebook, or go to gymownersunited.com to join. Do it today.
The post Revenue Rocket Ship: When You Work on a Gym, Not in It appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
Your Second Business: “What Else Do My Clients Need?”
The easiest way to grow your wealth is to do the same thing you’ve done before. You already know how to build a good gym—why not just build another?
Because, as entrepreneurs, we’re attracted to novelty. We love new challenges.
So if you’re tempted to build a second business that isn’t a gym, build a business that serves the same audience your gym does.
Two key lessons I’ve learned from my mentors are:
1. “If you know how to build an audience, you’ll never go hungry.” —Todd Herman
2. “Don’t find an audience for your product. Find products for your audience.” —Seth Godin
Building an audience is the hard part. Building a product or delivering a service is the easy part. This is one of the most important lessons I can give you in Tinker Phase. It’s true, but most people miss it—and that means they start from scratch over and over, spending years trying to get the first few clients for their second big idea.
Instead, start with your audience and ask, “What else do these great people need?”
I started Two-Brain Business because passionate microgym owners were going out of business. These poor first-time entrepreneurs had dedicated their lives to helping others get healthy, and all they were getting for their labor was a ton of debt and ruined relationships. I knew that 1:1 mentorship had worked for me, and wanted to give other gym owners a way to get 1:1 mentorship that was specific to them.
But I’ve also spotted other ways to serve this same audience. Sometimes I’ve pursued these opportunities myself, and sometimes I’ve started companies and then sold them to others so I can focus on growing Two-Brain Business faster. Sometimes I’ve linked up with great companies that can serve and support members of my audience, which is a win for my clients and me, and for the other companies.
Whenever I consider launching a new business, I follow a golden rule: It must pay for itself over and over again. But the actual program details aren’t hard because I stay focused on one audience and ask myself, “What else can I provide to these people?” When I spot a way that I can make their lives easier or make my service even more leverageable, I buy it for them.
All my businesses are client-centric service businesses.
Most of them serve the same audience.
Each helps me serve my audience better.
How can you serve yours better?
The post Your Second Business: “What Else Do My Clients Need?” appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
December 26, 2022
Growing Your Gym in War Time and in Peace Time
Announcer (00:02):
If you wanna grow your fitness business, you’re listening to the right podcast. This is “Run a Profitable Gym.” Please subscribe so you don’t miss a show. Now, here’s Chris Cooper.
Chris Cooper (00:10):
Hey guys, I’m Chris Cooper. I’m the founder of Two-Brain Business, and today I want to talk to you about growing your business during wartime and peacetime. When people think about entrepreneurship, they think that a business just kind of grows in a linear fashion, like you’re constantly working your way up at a predictable rate. But the reality is that it’s more like a roller coaster, where you go up two steps and then you go back down a step, and then you go up three steps and back down. And hopefully what happens is that over time you go up more steps than you come back down again. In wartime, what you’re trying to do is minimize how many steps down you’re taking when your business is under stress. In peacetime, what you’re trying to do is run up as many steps as you can so that you get as far up the tower as possible before the next little crisis happens.
Chris Cooper (01:01):
One thing’s for sure, if you’re an entrepreneur, you’re always going to face more challenges, more crises—these things that we call “wartime.” I’m gonna start there in wartime, which always feels like
“right now.” Until you’ve got your business systemized and running well and profitable, you’re always going to feel like you’re under attack. Especially in the last few years with COVID and lockdowns and recessions, we’ve kind of felt like we’re constantly in this state of wartime and we’re practicing austerity measures like I’m about to give you. But the reality is that most of the time we are living in peacetime and we’re not doing enough to get many, many steps ahead. So, first, what to do in wartime. If you’re under stress, you don’t have enough money, you can’t pay the bills, you’re getting locked down, there’s a flood, there’s a hurricane, whatever that is, you need to audit.
Chris Cooper (01:56):
So let’s start with five different audits that you can do in wartime. The first one is your investment audit. Now, everything that you buy in your business, you might call it an expense, but it’s really an investment. You’re a smart entrepreneur. There’s a reason that you chose to exchange money for these things. You might have investments like your equipment loan or your rent, your space. You might have investments like your bookkeeper or your mentor. You might have investments in your software or your coaches, your staff. There’s a reason that you made these investments initially, but you might have made these investments during peacetime, when everything was rosy, and now you’re in wartime and you’re saying, “I need to tighten my belt a little bit.” Before you cut anything, I want you to do an ROI audit. So I want you to look at everything on your P&L, every dollar that you have going out, and ask yourself, “How can I get a better return on this investment?”
Chris Cooper (02:51):
Before you cut anything, look to get a better return. With some things like software, you might be able to downgrade or audit the services that you’re not using. So, “Hey, you know what? I’m not actually using the event portion of this software. Can I back it out to a smaller subscription with my email marketing platform? You know what, I’m not using the CRM functionality. Maybe I’m just gonna back up to the email functionality.” With your bookkeeper, you can call them and say, “Hey, how can I get more out of our time together?” Same thing with your mentor. If you’re doing a loan, you can refinance your loan to make the payment smaller until you get back into peacetime. I’ve certainly done that with staff. You might ask yourself, “Who do I actually need right now? And who is serving a purpose that we no longer require? Or who is doing something that’s kind of redundant?” With your space, you can ask yourself, “Do I actually need that coaches lounge? Do I need that 300-square-foot space that’s not generating revenue but costing me everything every month? You know, every month, if I work it out, I’m paying about 200 bucks for a place for my coaches to ditch their sweaty old shoes. That doesn’t make sense. Can I renegotiate with my landlord?” So the first thing you wanna do in wartime is an ROI audit. The second thing that you want to do is a retention audit. Do you have a client journey? Where do your clients fall off? How often are you doing goal-review meetings? Do you have a written goal for each single client? When’s the last time you talked to these clients about their goals and measured their progress? Then you wanna do a marketing audit.
Chris Cooper (04:25):
You wanna ask yourself, “What are my funnels?” You want to draw them out and then you wanna say, “Is each step of the funnel performing the way it should? Are people coming from my podcast onto my email list? And from there, are they booking a call to set up a No Sweat Intro at my gym?” If not, or if you can’t define that funnel, then you don’t have a marketing funnel. Your marketing is completely shotgun or haphazard, and that’s an amazing opportunity to set up a marketing system for your gym. A mentor can help. Click the link above to book a call and find out how. You also need to do a sales audit. You need to look at how many people are booking No Sweat Intros with you, how many are showing up, and how many of those are signing up. If that number is below 80 percent, even with cold leads coming from ads, you need to work with a mentor to improve that.
Chris Cooper (05:17):
That’s one of the fastest ways that you can make massive return on an investment in mentorship: sales training. Next, you need to look at your facilities and audit that. Are the lights burned out? How often do we run out of toilet paper? Is there equipment that needs to be fixed or upgraded or just tossed or sold? Sometimes during wartime, we look around at our equipment and we think, “Hey, you know, I don’t actually use those dumbbells anymore. Why don’t I sell ’em to my members?” Or, “You know what? I’m not really using that $20,000 PNOE device. Why don’t I sell this to another gym who can make good use of it, and I’ll have a little bit more buffer?” Okay, so those are five audits that you can do right there during wartime to help you run leaner and meaner.
Chris Cooper (06:06):
Here’s the real blessing of these periods of crisis: They serve as a forcing function to become more efficient in your business, to use your resources, your investments, your staff and your time better. And so when you come out of the wartime crisis, you’re gonna have a much better, more efficient business. And sometimes if we didn’t even have that crisis forcing us to make the changes, we would never get up to that next level because sometimes the way that you run up the stairs faster is by shedding the weight that’s slowing you down. Now, let’s talk about peacetime. The pressure’s off and things aren’t so bad right now. You’re making a little bit of money. You’ve got enough clients to buy new equipment, pay your wage, pay a few coaches. Things are going okay: “Why should I make any changes now?” Because now is your time to sprint. At the point when you look around and there’s no crisis, no trauma, no anxiety about how your business is doing, that is the time to sprint my friends.
Chris Cooper (07:04):
That is where you build “antifragility.” That is where you build space between you and trouble. That is where you avoid getting killed by the next wartime measures, right? This is where you build in a margin for yourself so that you can afford to get through the next crisis or a downturn or—heaven forbid—personal sickness or injury. The best thing that you can do if things are going okay is to get an objective perspective on your business and say, “How do I move this thing forward? How do I grow by another 20 clients? How do I keep my clients three months longer? How do I increase the value that I’m offering to my clients and receive an increased value from each client in return? How do I create a sustainable, stable base for my coaches to build careers on? How do I identify the next level for myself? How do I get my family from subsistence-level living into the kind of life that we dreamed about when I became an entrepreneur? How do I get my wife out of her job? How do I get myself into a car that doesn’t break down once a week? How do I get myself into a place where I am creating enough income to send my kids to university and not fight with my wife over the Christmas bills? How do I get myself to a place where this current place that I’m in right now seems like a completely different planet by this time next year, that my history is no longer holding me back, that I am actually building wealth and being able to retire?” Because even in peacetime, when you’re not running out of money, you are still running out of time. Even in peacetime, when you’ve got no pressure from your government for lockdowns, when you’ve got no pressure from the bank to pay your bills, no pressure from the landlord, you still have the pressure of a ticking clock.
Chris Cooper (09:03):
Peacetime, when things are going okay, that is your opportunity—and therefore your responsibility—to sprint, to build a sustainable business, to have more clients and to do the things that will change their lives more. It’s the time to build your opportunities for coaching, to find new methods, to experiment with your programming, to try new software, to build a bigger boat that won’t sink the next time there’s a little, tiny storm. Your best opportunity when things are going well is to make them go better. And that is what a mentor can do to you for you: show you the next level, show you what’s possible. I’ll tell you right now, I’ve been working with gyms for over a decade. Through Two-Brain Business, we’ve had well over 1,700 gyms around the world. As gym owners, our standard for what “doing well” means or what “a good stable gym is” is way too low.
Chris Cooper (10:00):
Gyms are way too fragile. One little thing can knock a passionate fitness entrepreneur off the board forever. That means hundreds of lives not changed. That means a few coaches don’t get to make a career in fitness. That means a family having, you know, a kind of a crappy Christmas this year. And that means a passionate entrepreneur going and getting a job selling real estate because they just can’t survive that one step backward. They’re one step away from poverty. It’s one step backward, one crisis away, a thin margin away, one mistake away. You know, a neighboring gym opening down the street could put them outta business. You should be so successful that not only do you welcome more gyms in your neighborhood, but you literally walk down the street to take them coffee and say, “How can I help you become as successful as I am?” because they are not the thing that will put you in the grave. I want you to be so successful that it actually raises the bar for the entire industry, creates more wealth for everybody around you, eliminates this mindset of scarcity and competition with other gyms, and gets you to a place where your family is taken care of forever so that you can keep changing lives. That means that if things are going okay for you right now, even if things are going really well, as a leader, I want you to build something even bigger. The world needs you. Your town needs you, your family needs you, your staff needs you, and, most importantly, your clients need you to be successful and keep moving forward. Hope it helps.
Announcer (11:34):
Thanks for listening to “Run a Profitable Gym.” Please hit subscribe on the way out. Now, here’s Coop one more time.
Chris Cooper (11:41):
We created the Gym Owners United Facebook group in 2020 to help entrepreneurs just like you Now, it has more than 5,600 members, and it’s growing daily as gym owners join us for tips, tactics and community support. If you aren’t in that group, what are you waiting for? Get in there today so we can network and grow your business. That’s Gym Owners United on Facebook, or gymownersunited.com. Join today!
The post Growing Your Gym in War Time and in Peace Time appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
By the Numbers: The November 2022 Revenue Leaders
More clients? That’s great. But it’s not what makes a good business.
A good business rewards its clients and the owner. As the owner of a gym, you have to make a good living—at least $100,000 per year. You can do that with 50 clients or 150—but you can’t do it without revenue.
Here are the Two-Brain gyms with the top revenue in November:
Secrets From the Leaders
How did these gyms generate so much revenue?
Here are the secrets of the owners on our revenue leaderboards:
“Recently, we have focused on professional development for coaches and building a larger team. Hiring more coaches for private training (not just classes) is helping us scale faster.”
“It’s just taking action consistently to get better and always looking at ways to improve. We’ve really doubled down on referrals and retention the last 3 months, making (client) journey tweaks, doing a food drive where we donated cans for 2:1 PT sessions (got 5 new PT clients that way). And we continue to look at metrics for new things we try. If it doesn’t work, we adjust and try something different. I’ve also really focused on my team this past year and their own journey.”
“I focused most on quality leads. I got away from FB ads and pushed Google ads more, and my leads were coming in warmer and ready to purchase. Along with that, I really began to fine-tune my intro process and membership offerings that had a ton of value and great (front-end revenue) for my gym and coaches.”
“We’ve always been very group based. To get this number higher and consistent, we first put a lot of effort into building our PT program. Now that it is consistently $10K a month, we have shifted our focus to nutrition and specialty programs. Specialty programs specifically are new to us in the last 5 months, and they are becoming a consistent revenue stream that the members are enjoying!”
“We focus on multiple streams of revenue, including personal training, nutrition coaching and our online programs. We’ll do over $100,000 this year in PT alone.”
“We switched our personal training from session based to auto-renewing personal training memberships.”
“I focus most of my time calling leads and getting people booked in for trial workouts. We also really focused on saving cancellations by trying to have a conversation with everyone who asked to cancel. Usually these turned into pauses or downgrades, and sometimes they just needed to talk.”
“We look at our numbers every week, analyzing and forecasting—cost control and revenue wise.”
“We’re very consistent in the group PT and youth program; it’s constantly growing. We upgraded our on-ramp to a 90-day journey with different options within. Our minimum/smallest package is 12 PT sessions.”
“We dialed in on the things (that) really and truly move the needle, doing less of the stuff that diluted the team’s efforts, like specialty (e.g., 6-week promotion).”
“We’re a boxing gym. Increasing overall membership and (average revenue per member per month) via our new foundations program did it for us.”
Some made more money by focusing on their core offerings. Others made more by diversifying and empowering their coaches.
The key? Have a plan. Then execute on the plan and track the results of the plan. Then double down or change.
The post By the Numbers: The November 2022 Revenue Leaders appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
December 23, 2022
The Four Days Your Clients Skip Training—and What to Do About It
You probably don’t need to say “never miss a Monday” to clients at your gym.
But you might want to say, “Think about training this Thursday.”
Our 2022 “State of the Industry” report is now out, and it’s packed with all kinds of data you can use to improve your gym.
Wodify provided a ton of data on class attendance, and I’ll dig into it so you can serve your clients better.
When reviewing Wodify’s stats, here’s what’s very clear worldwide:
Monday is the most well-attended day of the week.Sunday is the least well-attended day of the entire week.Friday is the least well-attended weekday. Attendance declines each day from Monday to Sunday.Significant attendance declines appear on Thursday.Weekend attendance is poor: Combined Saturday and Sunday attendance is still not as great as attendance even on the worst single weekday (Friday).
Gym owners are in the business of habit formation, so these trends carry a lot of weight. To help you change these stats, here are just a few questions one might ask with regard to attendance trends and client retention:
And here are a few of the many questions a gym owner might ask with an aim to improve operations:
Data allows you to ask all sorts of follow-up questions, and the answers will help you take clear steps to improve your business.
But if you don’t have data, you’re flying blind. That’s why we produce the “State of the Industry” report every year. It’s a ton of work, but it’s worth it to give gym owners real insight.
You can—and should—use this guide to make your business more profitable. We’ve got 56 pages of numbers for you to chew on.
But if you see all the data and aren’t sure what to do with it, hit the easy button: Ask someone with real experience what you need to do. A mentor can analyze your business and tell you exactly what to do right now to make it better. To find out more about that, click here.
The post The Four Days Your Clients Skip Training—and What to Do About It appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
December 22, 2022
$100 ARM Increase: How Trista Eason Did It
Trista Eason: (00:01)
Hey, it’s Trista Eason, and I own Flex Appeal in Wichita Falls, Texas. And we increased our average revenue per member by over $100.
Mike Warkentin: (00:11)
Whoa. Trista, that’s a huge number. Would you mind pulling back the curtains and telling everyone about exactly how you did it today?
Trista Eason: (00:18)
Yeah, I am happy to share because I know a lot of gym owners are in the situation we were in when we signed up with Two-Brain. We actually officially joined right after the pandemic, right when we were about to be able to reopen. And we took advantage of every ounce of free material that Two-Brain put out. And then when we had to go through the shutdown, Chris Cooper told us exactly how to do it and it worked. And so when we came back, we knew, okay, we have to get on with Two-Brain and pay, you know? If this material was free and it worked for us, what more could we get when we actually sign up and have a mentor working with us, kind of holding our hand through the whole situation? So before the pandemic, before anything, I opened a gym on my own after the one I worked at just closed, and I had literally no idea what I was doing.
Trista Eason: (01:17)
I just knew what not to do based on what they did, and charged the lowest price in town.
Mike Warkentin: (01:23)
Ooh, I did that too. .
Trista Eason: (01:25)
I thought I needed to have every member that I could get. And the whole reason I got into training was because I really wanted to serve women. That’s who our demographic is. And I just got really overwhelmed realizing, I’m barely able to make a living, and to serve these women to the extent that I want to at this low rate because I’ve gotta take so many clients just to make ends meet and then pay the bills. But I’m not able to serve them in the way that I really imagined when I first opened. And I felt very outside of my core values and my original mission. It just didn’t feel right, but I didn’t know how to charge more and do something completely different than everyone else in town.
Mike Warkentin: (02:13)
I bet you were stressed. Were you just losing your mind at that point?
Trista Eason: (02:16)
So stressed, so burnt out. I never saw my family. The whole point of owning your own business, you think when you begin is, I’m gonna have so much free time . And when you figure out how much you’re making per hour, realistically, when you track your real hours, not your hours just in the gym, you realize you’re not making any money. And, you know, we all say it. I talked to many gym owners from the group and no, none of us originally went into it to make money, but I also don’t wanna just pour money back into it and get nothing. So the things we did to really increase our revenue. First thing I did was to hire someone when I could afford it. Then I was able to more evenly distribute my time with the clients and I realized, okay, not everyone just wants this base package.
Trista Eason: (03:06)
They do want to add nutrition, or want a little more nutrition. They do want just a mobility session with our mobility specialist coach. So we kind of took a note from Two-Brain’s book and instead of one person trying to be everything for every member, we each began to specialize in different areas of health, wellness, fitness, and kind of niche down what we do and how we do it so that we are now offering a premium service. And no, not everyone takes it, but most members, they want a little bit more coaching. And I mean, I know that sounds super simple the way I made it sound, and it’s not when you don’t have that as part of your offerings, but when you just start looking at what do the clients really need and want? And realize they will pay more for what you do and when you recognize your value, that’s how you can increase your revenue for sure.
Mike Warkentin: (04:08)
Well, I’m gonna dig in and ask you a couple of specific questions because yeah, it seems simple, but I will tell you from my experience: in some ways it is because what I did originally, I just sold group coaching, that’s it. And I set my rates, I pulled them out of the air and set my rates. And that was that. I did that for, I don’t know, eight years, something like that. Six years maybe. When I offered other stuff, guess what happened? People signed up for it. And it was as simple in many cases as just saying, Hey, we offer personal training sections in addition to group classes. And our clients said, really? Can I buy one? Huh? Pretty easy. So it was as simple as just knowing that I don’t just have to sell group classes. I could expand and offer other stuff. And that came with nutrition, personal training. And then of course there are all the other things where you can do habits, coaching, life, you know, stress management, all the other stuff that a good coach can do. But I’m gonna ask you a question before we get into that. You said that to get out of the ditch, you had to hire someone, and you said you weren’t making a ton of money at the time and you were stressed. So how did you hire someone and how did you know that you could do it and not go under?
Trista Eason: (05:08)
What everyone has pointed out, I am extremely optimistic. I just don’t see that something bad could happen. And one of my clients actually had a girl that her son was dating, they’re married now, and she was looking to get into the fitness business and I took a chance on her. Did more of a mentor-type thing just to see, what can I do with this girl? She was 19, I was 30, we had such an age difference. So I got to know her a little better. She shadowed me for a while and I just finally was like, okay, you’re on your own. And we just went through the growing pains of, you know, there’s gonna be some clients who struggle with change and some clients who love change. So just kind of developing that relationship with her, really showing her what the vision of the gym was so that she could go do it on her own without needing me there all the time.
Trista Eason: (06:07)
That helped. And I know a lot of gym owners struggle with hiring someone because they think, where am I gonna get the money to do that? But if you do a really good job bringing them on board, the money they make is the money that will pay them. So it’s not coming out of your bank that you already,that’s your money and hopefully you can afford to pay yourself. But that was one of the things I had to really get through my head. She will bring in money and that money will pay her.
Mike Warkentin: (06:41)
So were you working with a Two-Brain mentor at the time when you did this?
Trista Eason: (06:44)
No, that was just luck. I had a lot of luck, had a lot of really good fortune, and no, I actually wasn’t. But after we went through Rampup and everything, it did help bring on more hires and realize, okay, that was a good move. That was fine. There were still some things that we did that we shouldn’t do because I did not know how to pay staff. I had no idea.
Mike Warkentin: (07:08)
The reason I ask is because I was curious to see what you would answer, like how you brought this person on. ‘Cause we have a process and you know now from Two-Brain, there is an actual process. So gym owners out there saying right now, I haven’t a clue how to hire someone and then find the revenue for that. There actually is a process that’s called climbing the value ladder. A mentor will lead you through it, you’ll take a look at all the stuff you do, and then you’re gonna offload the lowest value rules. And they’re not unimportant, they’re just not as important as say, sales or CEO rules. So you’d start probably with cleaning and then you might do coaching and other things like that. There is an exact process as you go through it. You will find ways with your mentor to make the revenue to pay for that hire.
Mike Warkentin: (07:44)
So you managed to do it and you did a great job doing it on your own. But there actually is a process too. So gym owners, if you are struggling and don’t have a clue, I know that a mentor can get you through that. So that’s step one is getting yourself a little bit of space so you can stop looking “down and in” at the business and you can start looking “up and out”. And when you have that free time, Trista, as you said, you can start thinking, what else can I do to serve my clients? So I know your mission. I’ve got this from your website, I’m just gonna pull this up here. the Flex Appeal mission: positively impact the lives of women and their families. We know that a strong woman equals strong children.
Mike Warkentin: (08:18)
A healthy woman equals a healthy family. An empowered woman equals more opportunity. If you let it, this place will change your life. So you’ve got your avatar dialed in, you know who you want to serve, and then without the stress of, I’m working a million hours, you can stop and start thinking, how can I serve that person better? So you talked a little bit about it. Talk to me about some specific things that you did there that you saw right away. Wow, this increased my ARM. I’m seeing this number move as a direct result of what I just did.
Trista Eason: (08:46)
So one of our favorite things that we learned to implement from Two-Brain is the No-Sweat Intro. We used to just take any and everyone, let ’em come in the gym, let ’em try out a free class, a free week, three weeks sometimes. Yep. And then we would realize, these people we’re giving free classes to don’t really understand what we do. They just got to experience us here for this hour. And we’re assuming that they just want group classes or we’re assuming they just want one-on-one training. So that No-Sweat Intro really gave us an opportunity to really show them what we offer and not limit them to what they might purchase with us based on our assumptions.
Mike Warkentin: (09:29)
So I made this mistake. I assumed everyone wanted group coaching ’cause that’s all that I offered when I started sitting down with clients. And that’s what a No-Sweat is. That’s Two-Brain lingo for just a free consultation where you sit down and talk to a person about goals rather than just throw ’em into a class and have no idea, Hey, would you like to work out? You actually sit down, ask them what they wanna accomplish, and you give them a plan to accomplish that. And then you show them the price for the ideal plan. And they probably sign up. Two-Brain data shows that the No-Sweat Intro works really, really well and it does increase ARM dramatically. So if you do that, you start talking to people and they sign up for other services, and you said you had built some other services because you sat down and think, what does my avatar need to succeed as a woman? And you offered additional stuff. Tell me about some of the other stuff that started to show up as services at your gym that you were able to bring up in a No-Sweat Intro.
Trista Eason: (10:20)
One of the big ones, that was one of the first things we introduced that we realized, wow, we could make extra money just offering something like this. It’s a class we call Peach. It’s all about training the glutes, growing the glutes. It was a specialty course we offered , it was when butts were really being popularized again. Oh yeah. And so we offered a class all about the peach. It was a huge hit. And when you look at the metrics and you’re kind of surprised about how much you made on it and who signed up that you may not have expected to, you realize really the sky’s the limit when it comes to specialty courses. And then we realize, a lot of women struggle with body image issues or disordered eating, diet culture. So we kind of ventured into learning more about specifically training women, getting our Girls Gone Strong certifications and our Precision Nutrition certifications just so that we could offer more than just, here’s a meal plan, here’s a workout, it should work for you. Because we recognize that that’s what they’ve been told in the past. And we wanted to offer more of a comradery, more of a relationship than a coach to client, us just over them. We wanted a partnership with our clients.
Mike Warkentin: (11:41)
So you’ve hit on a couple of big things here and I’m just gonna point them out for listeners. The first one we’ve gone over a little bit, No-Sweat Intro. Every gym that starts doing No-Sweat Intros increases average revenue per member. We have data on it, it is a thing. Okay? The second thing is specialty programs. They don’t run all the time. They can if you have a schedule for them and so forth, but specialty programs that you bring up. So Peach was one that Trista talked about. You could do Olympic weightlifting, you could do anything like a diet challenge if that was in your culture, whatever works for your client avatar. You could do specialty programs. The cool part about that is if you pay a staff member properly and we call it the four-ninths model, you’re gonna pay that staff member 44% of program revenue. So this isn’t a staff cost and it’s tied to the revenue that’s brought into the program. The staff member makes more if more people come, so does the gym. Everyone is happy. So that’s a huge way to increase ARM because some existing clients are gonna buy that specialty program. Some clients from outside your gym. Did you get any Peach people who came from outside the gym?
Trista Eason: (12:38)
Oh yeah, we had many members. New members and then, absolutely. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin: (12:44)
Yeah, there you go. So that’s another way you can acquire people from outside the gym. That’s just a fantastic way. So you’ve got these specialty programs, then we’ve got additional services. So you went out and got some credentials that allowed you to offer something that would help your avatar nutrition. You could do other things. You could say, I wanna teach people how to specialize in marathon training or mindset coaching or whatever else, your avatar would need. Those three things, if I would put say a specialty program, a group membership and a nutrition coaching package, that might equal something like $350. I don’t know, is that kind of at least, I’m in the ballpark there, Trista, of what you would charge?
Trista Eason: (13:18)
Oh yeah. Because when you realize I as a mentee of Two-Brain- before Two-Brain, no, I probably wouldn’t have spent the money I do monthly because again, I was in that scarcity mindset. I can’t afford to do that. And once I got a mentor and actually put the tools to use that he was giving me, my mentor by the way is Sean Ryder. He would be, I think, disappointed if I didn’t mention it.
Mike Warkentin: (13:46)
No, he is a good guy.
Trista Eason: (13:47)
He’s a great guy. But having somebody that’s giving you kind of step-by-step and you take their cues and they actually work, kind of reinforces the value. And it’s the same thing with our clients. We’re realizing, we’re going to give you very high value coaching and if you take our advice, you’ll see the value in the coaching. And then the cost isn’t so much because how many people are signing up for something over here, something over there. When you add up all the prices, their 40 different gym memberships, their calorie counting apps, they’re spending that anyway. But if you could have them dial it in and trust you and just get that coaching information from one source and trust one source, they’ll see that they’re actually not spending any more money. And they’re not wasting any money because you’re-
Mike Warkentin: (14:40)
They’re getting results.
Trista Eason: (14:40)
It’s valuable. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin: (14:42)
Yeah. Yeah. Any other programs that you added in addition to that, that contribute to your ARM? Anything we’re missing?
Trista Eason: (14:49)
We actually have a specialist in mobility and that’s come in very handy because you’ll have those clients who don’t wanna come in because something’s achy. Let’s put you with Jennifer, our mobility specialist, instead of just skipping a session. So still getting value, just kind of paying attention to what would get someone out of the gym and giving them more reason to be in the gym.
Mike Warkentin: (15:16)
I’m gonna ask you about a couple of specific things that I don’t know if you do or not, but I’ll just ask because they are things that often contribute to ARM. Do you sell t-shirts, retail supplements, anything like that?
Trista Eason: (15:26)
We do. It’s really not one of our big things that we push because we are such a small gym. At most we have about 89, 90 members, but we don’t need a ton of people. And I feel like they can only buy so many of our t-shirts. But we do, we’ll do a monthly order every now and then for one design, right? But it’s not something we really depend on because our ARM is so good through other things.
Mike Warkentin: (15:56)
So consider the gravy. And a lot of gyms don’t rely on that kind of stuff. But some gyms do, they do okay with supplemented retail sales, specifically often ones in gyms in tourist locations, whatever. Get tons of people, like Las Vegas gyms for example, often sell a lot of t-shirts. Hawaii, same thing. That’s something at your gym, if you’re looking to raise ARM you might do that. I would encourage you to do pre-orders rather than stocking a ton of inventory. But that’s something you could definitely look at doing. How about PT? Do you do PT?
Trista Eason: (16:22)
Like physical therapy?
Mike Warkentin: (16:23)
Sorry, personal training.
Trista Eason: (16:25)
Oh, personal training is really our biggest revenue because it used to be small groups, but once we kind of realized small groups are fine, but really people want more of an intimate setting or a closer relationship with this person they’re trusting. And we do find they’ll open up more and kind of tell you more about what’s going on in their life. Rather than in a group, they’re not gonna say, yeah, I binged last night after work. So it gives a lot more opportunity to build that relationship further. And it didn’t used to be our largest revenue, but it absolutely is now.
Mike Warkentin: (17:05)
Okay. So that’s another thing that I’ve heard, gym owners out there. I’ve heard this from many, many gym owners who are having success. The giant groups, you know, 20, 30 people running one giant class, maybe not the way to drive up your ARM. Better smaller groups. I’ve heard semi-private training. Brian Bott has an episode, we’ll put it in the show notes for you. Small groups or personal training delivered in small groups can drive up ARM a huge degree. So Trista, you looked at your client avatar and said, these people will succeed more with a smaller relationship. So small groups and PT, that’s a higher value service than a giant group where you might get a little bit of coaching for two or three minutes during the hour. Nothing wrong with those groups if that’s what people want, but you can sell more. You can also, with a group model, sell PT in addition in a hybrid model. So it’s like, I have my group membership, but I also wanna work at Olympic weightlifting, tack that on. That is an ARM builder. How about kids? Do you have kids programs?
Trista Eason: (17:58)
Yep, we have kids programs. They’re largely built out by just clients’ kids. And it’s not just random children that we had to go find.
Mike Warkentin: (18:07)
So I’m guessing that the marketing problem solves itself right there.
Trista Eason: (18:12)
Yeah, and that’s actually one of our values. We wanna create generational change. And so, if mom maybe has an unhealthy relationship with food and her body and her daughter’s seeing this, it’s a great way for us to help intervene and kind of redirect and they can see mom work out. They can come work out. We’re very family friendly. We will allow men to come work out with us. They don’t typically, but moms will bring daughters and they don’t always work out in the same class. We do have kids specific classes, but that’s really important. That’s part of our core values. So making sure the kids have a place to come, learn to move their body. And then it’s fun and the kids tell their parents how fun it is. So they keep paying for it.
Mike Warkentin: (19:00)
Kids programs, again, if you serve parents, and most people do, obviously kids programs are a no brainer, right? You don’t have to go looking for these kids. All you have to do is say, I’ve got a kids’ program. And your members are going to say, how do I sign up my kids? Because they’re always looking for activities. They already know, like, and trust you. There’s almost no marketing attached to this. You can just put up a poster and you will get kids in that program. And that increases the value and even better, generational fitness and it serves your target market. So again, that’s saying, so I was almost certain you had a kids program because when I see you talking about who you want to serve, kids would be a natural extension of that. Is there anything that we’ve missed in this ARM? Any ones that I’m not thinking about?
Trista Eason: (19:45)
I think that the number one thing that I haven’t touched on, I think I’ve said a lot of number one things, but, having a really good staff that you can share responsibilities with and that you trust, I think that’s really important. And making sure you’ve got a good hiring process where they fully understand what your vision is, what the mission is, and then you just kind of set ’em free to work as much as they want and to earn the money they wanna earn. That they’re gonna have that same investment in your business as you are because it does benefit them as well.
Mike Warkentin: (20:23)
Listeners are here for average revenue per member, but we have another thing called effective hourly rate. And that is all the time you put in the business divided by what you take out of the business in terms of salary, dividends, whatever else you pay yourself, higher numbers are better. You can only drive that number up so high as an individual in a gym. However, if you start to hire people on these four-ninths models, they’re growing specialty programs, they’re making money, your business is making more money, all of a sudden, you can make a huge hourly rate because you are now a business person and a CEO. You’re not just a personal trainer in a gym slaving away for $50 an hour. So there is an entire plan that goes into that as well. So ARM, four-ninths model, hiring specialty programs, all this stuff does contribute to an overall stable business where you’re a CEO in a high effective hourly rate. So you’ve got a ton of interesting stuff going on there. I’m gonna ask you one final thing, and I bet I know the answer. Do you have a bunch of roles and tasks in place that govern your staff and hiring to make sure that people are always operating according to your vision?
Trista Eason: (21:20)
Oh yeah, absolutely. We have a staff playbook. We have a group for our staff to kind of always talk in. We have our SOPs, standard operating procedures clearly written out with everything we do in the facility. And we’re constantly updating them too to make sure they’re up to date, that there’s no question about what you should do. You don’t have to get ahold of me first. You can check the SOPs, you can check the playbook. The answers are there. And that gives these people, they’re adults and that gives them this sense of ownership with the business too. They know exactly what to do. They’re confident in their jobs and knowing that they’ve got a good place to work. I haven’t personally had a hard time hiring people because we pay well, we treat our staff well, and we give them kind of the entrepreneurial idea that Two-Brain recommends and they love it.
Mike Warkentin: (22:16)
There is a ton of stuff in here, listeners, for you to take a look at. Everything from dialing in your avatar roles and tasks that are the foundation of every successful business. And then tons of other things. But I’m gonna give you one thing. If you were lost at sea and Trista, you tell me after I say it, if you agree with me, if you were gonna do one thing today at the end of this, what I would do is I would start doing a No-Sweat Intro when you get people into your gym. And I will tell you that’s gonna increase your ARM. Trista, do you disagree or agree with me?
Trista Eason: (22:45)
Totally agree. And when you go into it, don’t go into it thinking this gross salesperson mentality. Think about how am I actually gonna help this person in front of me? And if I can truly help them, I don’t feel weird making these suggestions and worried about what they’re gonna say about the prices. If I truly think I’m helping them, it’s worth it.
Mike Warkentin: (23:05)
Thank you so much for sharing all that, Trista. Gym owners are going to increase their ARM because of you. Thank you so much. That was Trista Eason and this is Run a Profitable Gym, I’m your host, Mike Warkentin. I’m telling the stories of amazing gym owners all the time, so please subscribe for more episodes and if you’re on YouTube, please hammer that like button too. Now here’s Chris Cooper with a final word.
Chris Cooper: (23:25)
Hey, it’s Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper with a quick note. The Gym Owners United Facebook group has more than 5,600 members and it’s growing daily. If you aren’t benefiting from the free tips and tactics and resources that I post daily in that group, what are you waiting for? Get in there and grow your business. That’s Gym Owners United on Facebook or www.GymOwnersUnited.com. Join today.
The post $100 ARM Increase: How Trista Eason Did It appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
